


Vacation to Home

by FMPtrumpets



Category: One Piece
Genre: Alive Thatch (One Piece), Gen, Portgas D. Ace Lives
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-03-11
Packaged: 2021-03-12 07:46:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28756845
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FMPtrumpets/pseuds/FMPtrumpets
Summary: Ace and Marco were sent to find Arlong and bring him down, only... somebody got there first.
Relationships: Fushichou Marco | Phoenix Marco & Portgas D. Ace, Monkey D. Luffy & Portgas D. Ace
Comments: 8
Kudos: 119





	1. Trouble in the East

**Author's Note:**

> If the timeline seems a bit off in regards to Thatch still being here, I apologize in advance. It works for this.

"Ace! Pops is looking for you! He's got a job for you and Marco!" Thatch called. Ace paused for a moment before redirecting his feet towards the Captains chair instead of his room where he had been going to write another letter home that he would never send. The Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates was curious, although thoughts of a rubber-brained idiot kept floating through his head.

'Hmm, I wonder if he found anyone crazy enough to sail with him yet... No, focus. Pops looking for me, focus.' He thought. When he got to the chair, he was unsurprised to find Marco already there, he rarely left Pops side, usually only to go chase Thatch for something, or to do paperwork.

"You were looking for me Pops?" He asked curiously.

"Yes, I just got a call from Jimbei, turns out Arlong's been causing trouble in the East Blue, trouble that he has just heard about." Whitebeard explained.

Now I'm really confused. I remember Jimbei talking about some of his men who left the ship and set off on their own about eight years ago, but nothing's been heard of them since. If those fishmen have really been in the East Blue all this time, then why hasn't any word of that reached here? Vaguely, I remembered hearing about some guy named Arlong back when I first set out, I think it was my first-mate that mentioned it...

"What kind of trouble?" I asked.

"The setting up his own Empire in the weakest sea kind of trouble. Considering his hatred of humans..." Marco said

Ace paled. If Arlong had gone anywhere near Dawn Island in the three years he had been away... the moment they found and threatened Dadan or Luffy... three years wouldn't have been long enough for a weakling like Luffy to get strong enough to take down a fishman, would it?

"Wait, why are you telling me this? Its not-"

"Nothing's wrong with Dawn Island that we've heard of." Marco interrupted. "Jimbei wants us to do him a favor and go take care of Arlong for him. We're to go to Conomi Island, find Arlong, destroy his Empire, and drag him back to Jimbei so he can deal with him on Fishman Island." He explained.

Ace nodded in understanding, but he was also confused. "Why send us, why can't Jimbei go do it himself?"

Whitebeard smiled. "It might be the fact that of everyone on this ship, my Second Division Commander, who also happens to be good friends with Jimbei, is the only one to have come from the East Blue. You know those Islands, you know how the people in that sea will react to Devil Fruits, and you know that sea. That, and you have family there..."

Nothing more needed to be said. Jimbei was giving him the perfect excuse to return to the East Blue without the government freaking out about two Whitebeard division commanders going to the weakest sea. Maybe while they were there he could 'bump into' Luffy... Whitebeard and Marco grinned, they could probably tell from his facial expressions what was going through his head right now.

"You leave in an hour." Whitebeard instructed. "Take your time coming home."

Ace just grinned. "Yes sir."

Oh, this was going to be a fun trip, he only hoped they'd be able to track Luffy down, and that Arlong did in fact stay far away from Dawn Island.

Dimly, he made a mental note to take Jimbei out to dinner next time he saw him.


	2. Meet the Little Brother

About a week later, Ace and Marco sailed into the East Blue. Ace figured they still had about a week left until they reached their destination, and they were already bored.

Without the unpredictable weather of the New World or even paperwork to do, they had nothing to keep themselves occupied, and they hadn't made land yet so they hadn't been able to gather information.

So, for now they played with their fire and talked.

"Happy to be home?" Marco asked.

Ace smiled. "Ya, a little. I'm mostly looking forward to 'bumping' into my little brother." Marco laughed, "Yeah, I figured that to be the case. You didn't seem to be too concerned about the others from your island earlier. Any reason?"

Ace hummed for a bit before answering, "I'm really more concerned with Luffy, mainly because I know what he will do if the fishmen are on the island and threaten people he cares about. He's going to fight back and I don't know if he's strong enough for that yet. These are fishmen who sailed with Jimbei after all. If the fishmen did invade, the others could just make their way to the other part of the island I guess, the nobles there should be enough to keep the fishmen away, but... Luffy... he's another story."

Marco just raised an eyebrow. Sounds to him like Luffy gets in a lot more trouble than Ace.

They sailed in silence for a few more days after that, stopping at random islands for food and information along the way. Ace was relieved to hear that Dawn Island was the still the same boring Island he grew up on, he also found Luffy's latest activities to be hilarious. Leave it to Luffy to go after the strongest pirates in the area, even if it was just coincidence.

Although, he could've sworn that Kuro of the Blackcat Pirates was executed three years ago, just after he set out. He remembered being really mad about it, he'd been hoping to fight the guy only for him to be captured before he could. And now he comes back to the East only to hear that Luffy beat him up instead. Typical.

As they asked around about Arlong, both Marco and Ace got angrier and angrier about what they heard. They were told that Arlong was a fishman here under Jimbei's orders and protection, so there was nothing the Marines could do about it. Neither of them were happy to hear their friend talked about like that. They were also told about how the people on Arlong's islands were rarely seen off them, and whatever goods used to come from there were getting scarce as well since they had to devote all their resources to keeping themselves fed and taken care of.

Both Marco and Ace were getting worried about the condition they would find these people in, Ace was imagining something similar to the Trash Heap, while Marco was imagining something closer to what he had seen of newly freed slaves. Either way, this wouldn't be good.

They were about 12 hours out when they came across a still heavily damaged Baratie and what looked like a destroyed Galleon. Marco raised an eyebrow at the Galleon, that looked like Mihawks work. Ace looked at the damage to the restaurant and laughed, that looked like Luffy's work. When he asked to speak with the owner, Chef Zeff, he just said one word. "Luffy?"

Zeff looked shocked. How did a Whitebeard Pirate know Chore-boy? "Yes, he came in here following a cannon, stayed for a few days working off the damages, and then left after beating up Don Krieg to go after his Navigator after she stole his ship. Took my Sous-Chef with him."

Marco raised an eyebrow, his kid definitely left an impression behind. Ace was just laughing his butt off. Shaking his head, Marco asked if Mihawk had been there.

"Yes, in fact, Chore-boys swordsman fought him, Mihawk let him live with the promise that he would get stronger and then meet him on the Grand Line. Ace and Marco were floored. Somebody from the East Blue earned Mihawk's respect?

Ace sighed and shook his head, "Figures my little brother would find somebody like that for his crew. Man, that kid is going to be the death of me someday..."

Marco shrugged, "Your brother definitely leaves an impression, I'll give him that, he's also rather destructive." He said as he looked over the damage.

Ace looked at him and just asked, "Where do you think I got it from?" Marco was starting to not want to meet this kid, anybody that was more destructive than Ace could not be good for his health and stress levels.

Ignoring the cooks gaping expressions, he ordered some food to go, he was hungry and they were going to be fighting soon, and him and Marco continued on their way, talking and laughing about Luffy and the damage he caused. Time to go capture a fishman.

The Island was now in view when they heard sounds of a battle, which Ace figured couldn't be good. They also saw wreckage from a Marine ship, it didn't look like their were any survivors.

"Looks like some of the Marines tried to do something after all." Marco said softly. Neither of them had any love for the Marines, but in this case, where the Marines had finally been making themselves useful... it didn't help any that these East Blue Marines never stood a chance to begin with.

Before long they reached the shore, and headed towards Arlong Park, coming in view just in time for the tower to collapse.

Looking at each other in alarm, they ran forward, Marco asking, "What do you think happened?"

Ace didn't answer, he had a feeling he knew exactly what, or rather who happened.

They arrived at the wall surrounding the park to find a crowd of villagers, all armed with random farming tools and shovels, at the front of the crowd, Ace saw a familiar straw hat, but what alarmed him was that it was sitting on an unfamiliar orange head.

It was at that moment that the rubble shifted, and a person wearing a red vest and shorts stood up, looking like he lost a fight with a bear.

Luffy.

"NAMI!" He shouted. Ace watched as the head wearing his brothers hat jerked up, he could tell from the way her shoulders shook that she was trying not to cry.

"YOU WILL ALWAYS BE MY FRIEND!" The girl wearing the hat, Nami, raised her hands to her mouth, and Ace heard a whispered out "Yes."

Ace couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.


	3. Too Late

Ace couldn't help it, he burst out laughing.

Luffy looked up from where the rest of his crew was trying to get him to let them help him off the pile of rubble when he heard laughing. Familiar laughing.

His jaw dropped when he saw the figure standing behind the villagers, his big brother Ace. Who he was pretty sure was supposed to be somewhere on the Grand Line right now beating people up.

Ace was too busy laughing to notice the looks from the villagers, or the fact that Luffy had noticed him. He did notice when he was tackled to the ground in a mess of rubbery limbs by a boy screaming his name. "AAAAAACCCCCEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Woah! Hi- ack- Luffy, can't breat- ack!"

"Oh, sorry." Luffy said sheepishly as he got off his older brother and stood. He tilted his head confused, "What are you doing here?"

Ace grinned up at him from his seat on the ground and barely registered the people coming to stand protectively behind his brother, watching him warily in Zoro's case and curiously in the others.

This must be his crew.

"We, uh, came for Arlong. A friend of ours called in a favor with our captain for us to come and drag him back to the Grand Line to face punishment for his crimes in the East. Wasn't quite expecting you to beat us to it though..." Ace explained, still trying to get his breath back.

Luffy just looked even more confused, Ace had a captain? Luffy thought he was his own captain.

The villagers were angry, Arlong had been here for eight years, their Nami had to suffer with him for all that time, and somebody was JUST NOW sending somebody to take care of him? REALLY?! Ace and Marco overheard their grumbling and Marco went to head them off and explain things before they turned ugly, Ace and Marco really didn't feel like being chased away before they had a chance to tie up all the fishmen.

It was at that moment that Nami plopped Luffy's precious Straw Hat back on his head, Ace just turned to her in amusement, with just a little bit of caution in his eyes, "I'd be honored if I were you, it's not just anyone he lets touch his hat, let alone wear it."

Nami looked startled, she knew this hat was precious to her captain, he had specifically stated that the thing was his only treasure after all, but who was this guy? It was obvious that Luffy knew him, and she felt like she had seen his face from somewhere.

Marco came back and chuckled. "Com'on Ace, we got a job to do remember?" He turned to the Straw Hats. "If you would be so kind as to help us toss the fishmen into a pile so we can tie them up, that would be very helpful. You and Ace can catch up later." He said when Luffy opened his mouth, he assumed to argue about something.

Although he really wanted to get to know the kid Ace wouldn't shut up about, he wanted to do it before the fishmen woke up. Sure, him and Ace could knock them out again no problem, but why bother when they were already so nicely unconscious just waiting to be taken away?  
He figured he was right when Luffy snapped his mouth shut and told his crew to toss them all into a pile, after ordering Zoro to let the village doctor do his job. He turned back to Marco when he was asked where Arlong was, in answer he pointed to the rubble that used to be the tower of Arlong Park,   
"Somewhere in there."

Ace grinned at Marco's expression. "What can I say, Marco? My little brother's destructive." Then Luffy started reminding Ace of all the stuff Ace destroyed when they were younger, only for Ace to correct that all that had been Luffy's own doing. The Strawhats and Marco went pale hearing just what this kid had destroyed in the past. Although the Strawhats mostly paled when some of them realized just who Ace and Marco were. And Ace just called their captain his 'little brother'.

They figured that Luffy's family had to be a bunch of monsters to produce Luffy, but the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates? Seriously?!

The Strawhats all turned to stare between their captain and the commander, Marco just laughed at their expressions before he remembered they had a job to do. Unfortunately, the Marines decided to show up at that moment. Ace, in a very brief moment of possessing a brain, dragged Marco behind some rubble to hide so the Marines didn't think the two Whitebeards had anything to do with this, he wanted Luffy to get his credit. That, and they were under orders not to give the Marines heart-attacks over two Whitebeard commanders being in the weakest of the four Blues.

As they listened to the talk between the Strawhat captain and the rat-like marine, they got the idea that it was this Marine's fault they were here.

With the Strawhats talking to rat-faced guy...

"Your victory here must be some kind of accident, but no matter. Now, I'm free to keep the money I was supposed to give to Arlong, as well as all the treasure kept hidden away in Arlong park. Now surrender! All the credit for this goes to me! Colonel Nezumi of Branch 16...! Ack!"

Luckily for Marco, Nami finally heard enough. He had been having a hard time holding onto Ace and keeping him hidden. Ace did not want to hear about this crappy marine taking his kid brothers credit. As if that coward could ever beat up a fishman in the first place. Ha. This was exactly the kind of marine the Whitebeards hated the most. One's who took bribes instead of doing their jobs honorably.

"Shut up you idiot!" Nami yelled at him after smashing him with her bo staff. "None of that is happening! Here's what will happen, you marines are going to do your job and return my money that you stole, your going to leave the money in Arlong Park alone, that money belonged to the villagers anyway, then your going to help us rebuild Gosa Village! Do I make my point clear?" She emphasized each demand with a hit from her staff.

Ace watched as Marco rubbed his face, imagining how much that must of hurt. Ace found Marco's actions to be hilarious, considering it was Marco and it would have just healed instantly anyway.

"For now, you can just get out of our hair!" Nami yelled, hitting the marine (does he still deserve to be called that?) again.

The Marines fled, but not before an unrecognizable Nezumi clarified Luffy's name and the Whitebeard's noticed a guy with a camera taking Luffy's picture. Luffy must of noticed him too, because he immediately put a huge ridiculous grin on his face as he started to reach out to cover the lens. The poor camera guy barely got out of the way and saved his camera from death by Luffy.

Marco and Ace couldn't help but grin at the thought of Luffy's first wanted poster and bounty.

With the Marines gone, they came out of hiding and started helping Luffy move rubble to find Arlong while the other three took care of gathering together the other fishmen, having to leave to go find the one that Usopp had taken care of. While they did that, Zoro was wrestled down by several villagers so the doctor could do his job, and Luffy eventually had to go over to yell at him to stay still so the doctor could work.

"Was that from the fishmen?" Marco asked when he came back, gesturing towards Zoro.

"Nope, he had a fight with Hawky before we came here." He continued to lift rocks, not noticing the dumbfounded looks the commanders were giving him.

They looked back at Zoro and thought, this guy fought Hawk-eye and was allowed to live. Either this guy was just that good at the moment, or he somehow earned Hawk-eye's respect. Both options seemed far-fetched.

Several hours later, all of the Arlong Pirates were tied up in the center of Cocoyashi village while everyone partied around them. Introductions had finally been made, and Ace was still trying to explain how he sailed under Whitebeard now, and how he was perfectly ok with it. And no, Whitebeard didn't kidnap him or force him into it, technically. He decided it was probably best for his Pops sanity if Luffy wasn't told that he only joined after being beaten up and then kidnapped... but the decision had still been his!

Eventually, Ace and Luffy went away from the party, deciding that they needed to talk.


	4. Brothers

Eventually, Ace and Luffy went away from the party, deciding that they needed to talk.

Ace and Luffy just sat on the cliff looking at the ocean for a while, just enjoying each other's company for a bit. This was one of the few times where Luffy didn't mind if it was quiet, normally he hated it, but at the moment... he was just happy to be with his big brother after not seeing him for three years. It was Ace that finally broke the silence.

"I'd almost forgotten how quiet and peaceful the East can be. I've been in the New World for so long... it's funny, even though we're here on business, it doesn't feel like it. Must be because this is my home sea. Despite... everything that happened." He finished softly.

Luffy just hummed quietly, an image of Sabo running through the forest and laughing with the two of them, followed by Sabo being led away by those stupid High Town guards. "You should visit before you head back, Makino and Dadan really miss you. Even if Dadan will never admit it." He replied. "You still have people here who care about you, no matter what you might think." Ace just glanced down and stared for a minute before smiling. He didn't see this side of Luffy often, when he did he made sure to listen.

"I just might do that... I'd have to talk to Marco about it first though. We are here on mission after all and now we have prisoners to keep track of." Ace said, but he was thinking about the destruction of Arlong Park. Despite what he said earlier to Marco and the others about Luffy being destructive, he usually didn't bring down entire buildings like that unless something was really bothering him.

"Say, Luffy." He waited until the boy looked up and hummed to show he was listening. "Why did you tear the building down like that? I mean, I know he was the enemy and all, but... you don't usually go on a rampage like that."

In answer, Luffy took a pen out of his pocket and just handed it to him, saying, "This was in the room where he forced Nami to draw her maps for him for the past eight years."

One look, and Ace knew.

This pen had blood on it. This pen belonged to one of Luffy's friends. One of his Nakama. The blood was hers.

Oh.

If there was one thing the brothers were known for back on their home island, even back when Sabo was still with them, it was for making anybody who hurt somebody they cared about seriously regret it. Throughout the Grey Terminal, people knew that if you touched one of the two brothers, you better hide, and fast. Or you may as well be dead. Entire clearings had been made and piles of trash destroyed by one of the brothers rampages when they were searching for whoever it was to hurt the other. They weren't called the Demon Brats of Mt. Corbo for nothing.

And Arlong had hurt Nami. Now Ace was wishing they didn't have to deliver Arlong to Jinbe in one piece, he was already not happy with the shark over the injuries Luffy had from the fight. Ace may have just met Nami, but he considered his brothers Nakama to be his Nakama. Provided that they took good care of his kid brother of course.

"Man, now I kinda wish you left something for me to destroy. You've gotten stronger since I left, little brother. I mean, tearing down piles of trash is one thing, but a tower made out of stone like that?" Ace whistled. "I can't wait to see how big they put your starting bounty out as. I mean, Arlong was the biggest bounty in the East Blue, not to mention the other big names you took down the past few weeks."

Luffy BEAMED at the praise. He could have outshone the sun if he wanted to. Ace smiled, "Of course, probably not as big as mine was starting out," he just couldn't resist the teasing. It was just too easy!

"WHAAAATT?! Ace, you meanie, my bounty is so gonna be bigger than yours!" Luffy shouted, standing up and towering over his seated brother. Ace just started laughing, his baby brother hadn't changed at all in the past three years! After a minute of glaring, and pouting, Luffy started to laugh with him, eventually falling back down to lean into his big brothers side. Ace just smiled and wrapped a protective arm around his shoulders.

After a few more minutes of silence, Luffy decided to ask the question that had been bugging him since being told his brother sailed under another's flag now. Last he checked, his brother had major trust issues, and he definitely didn't like following orders. He had a feeling he knew the reason, but just to make sure...

"Hey, Ace? Why did you join the Whitebeards? I thought you said you would never sail under another?"

Ace smiled. He knew this would come up. "Whitebeard gave me a family. Somewhere to call home. They'll never replace you or Sabo, nobody can... but... I don't know. Being with them, kinda feels like being back on Mt. Corbo with the two of you. Ya know, belonging somewhere. I'm... proud... to call him my father."

Luffy just smiled. Yup, that's what he had thought. And considering the issues Ace had with his dad... for him to willingly and proudly call anybody his father was, well, huge. He was already resolving to thank Whitebeard somehow for that.

"But enough of all that, what have you been up to stuck on the island these past three years?" Ace asked.

Luffy just grinned mischievously. Ace immediately felt sorry for whoever had gotten beat up the past few years. "Beat up a few people in the terminal, robbed a few nobles stupid enough to be out near the gates, oh! I had to get better at hunting, all the meat started running away at the sight of me." He started pouting at the thought of all the meat running. "Dined and dashed a few more times... its kinda hard to get into those places when it's just you... but one of the things I lifted off the nobles was a crest, so..."

Ace smirked and shook his head, "The usual trouble then?"

Luffy nodded. "Oh yeah! I also beat up one of the other bandit families, they went to Makino's bar and tore the place apart, hurt Makino, and stole a lot of her sake. I got most of it back for her though, they didn't have a chance to drink it all." Ace turned his head to stare at his little brother.

That was... different.

All the bandits usually avoided causing trouble in Foosha, they knew that the old man was there a lot, they knew that Garp was in the Party Bar a lot. They had to have known that if Garp heard of something like that...

But instead it was Luffy to have heard of it. "Well, I guess now the bandits on the mountain know why we were so feared in the Terminal, huh." Ace mused out loud. Luffy smirked. "But still, what were they thinking attacking the Party Bar like that? Didn't they know how much Garp visited the island? Morons." Luffy just hummed in agreement. "So, who was it exactly? Anyone I know of or were they new to the area?"

"It was that family on the other side of the mountain, that guy with the weird hair and big nose. I don't remember what they were called. He's the one that Dadan was always complaining about that took her targets and stuff." Luffy said.

Ace ahh'd. That guy. Yeah, he was an idiot alright.

"So, what about you, any cool adventures?" Luffy asked, almost bouncing up and down from his position under Ace's arm. Ace laughed and sighed fondly. His kid brother, he pitied the world now that the ball of energy that was Monkey D Luffy was set loose upon it. He really hoped the Strawhats were up to the challenge.

For the next few hours, Ace told story after story of his adventures on the seas, either with his old crew, or with his new siblings on the Moby Dick. Neither pirate noticed when Marco found them, stood and watched for a minute, smiled and walked away. Nor did they notice when members of Luffy's crew did the same.

"...By then of course, the paint was dry and Marco..." He was cut off by a soft snore from the boy next to him. He shook his head in exasperation, but smiled fondly. This was not the first time Luffy fell asleep to a good story after all. If Luffy really wanted to hear the end of it later he would come bug him about it then. He usually did, assuming he remembered he was being told a story.

Careful not to disturb Luffy, Ace laid back so he could watch the stars, with Luffy asleep with his head on his shoulder. The next morning, when Marco and the Strawhats went to find the two, they found the two brothers asleep with Ace wrapped around his little brother protectively, just like when they were younger.

The crew and Marco watched for a few minutes before glancing around at each other, shaking their heads, and again walking away.

Back at the party after Luffy and Ace left...

At some point into the party, the Arlong crew woke up, and they were not happy about being tied up while the weak humans they used to rule partied around them. After first mocking that the humans thought that mere ropes could hold them, trying and failing to break them and then just looking like a bunch of idiots for trying, Marco walked up with a transponder snail in hand. One that was currently connected to Jinbe.

"They're on old friend." Marco said into it, while the Arlong Pirates just stared at him wondering when he got there and why he was talking into a transponder snail like somebody wanted to talk to them. They got their answer when they heard Jinbe's voice coming from the snail. And their former captain was not happy with them.

"WHAT DO YOU IDIOTS THINK YOU WERE DOING!? HOW COULD YOU POSSIBLY JUSTIFY WHAT YOU DID AS BEING OK, OR RIGHT? THOSE HUMANS PROBABLY DIDN'T EVEN KNOW FISHMEN EXISTED, AND THEN YOU SHOW UP AND GIVE THEM EVERY REASON TO HATE OUR PEOPLE WHERE BEFORE THEY HAD NONE! YOU BETTER HOPE MARCO AND ACE TAKE THEIR TIME RETURNING YOU TO ME BECAUSE WHEN I GET MY HANDS ON ALL OF YOU...!"

While most of the fishmen were cringing at the sound of their angry ex-captain, they had never heard him lose his temper before, those who had still been partying after the fishmen woke up stopped what they were doing to stare over at the sight of their oppressors cowed by whoever was on the other end of the line.

Arlong was not as cowed as the rest of them though. "Jinbe, the traitor to our race, the human-lover. These humans were pathetic weaklings, who would have only hated and enslaved us. Humans were born to hate us, because we are superior-"

"No, Arlong. We are not superior to humans. We are different. Difference does not equal superiority. They were not born to hate us either, nobody is born to hate, they learn hatred as a result of others actions. Your actions, Arlong, have taught them to hate fishmen. Just because a few humans enslave and hate us, does not mean ALL humans enslave and hate us. Nor does a few enslaving us give us the right to start enslaving them. That just brings us down to their level and I will not stand for it. That's not what I've worked for all these years." Jinbe sighed. "That's not what our queen was working towards either."

"It doesn't matter what she was working for, it's because of the humans that she's dead! It's because of the humans that Tiger is dead!" Arlong yelled, only for Jinbe to yell back.

"And their last words were to not hate the humans! The more we act in hatred, the more they will hate us, and the cycle will never end! The cycle must break if our people are to survive and be free!" A few of the Arlong Pirates nudged Arlong when he opened his mouth to keep arguing, they knew it was pointless. When Arlong didn't respond, Jinbe sighed and started speaking to the villagers surrounding the captive pirates.

"On behalf of our King, I would like to apologize for everything Arlong put you through the past few years, as well as to apologize for my own blindness, if I had known sooner, this would not have gone on as long as it did. The blame for this rests ultimately with me-" Here he had to ignore Marco's sounds of frustration that his friend was blaming himself for Arlong's actions. "-if I had not bargained for their freedom from prison those years ago... *sigh* At any rate, you can expect workers from Fishman Island to arrive within the next few weeks with building supplies, to help you rebuild what Arlong destroyed. I have spoken with our King and he has agreed that as it was a fishman, it is only right... please do not fear them, they will only be there to help. We beg that you do not consider all fishmen to like Arlong, every race has its... bad apples... I guess you could say."

Nami's eyes had widened when she heard that the King of Fishman Island was sending workers to help rebuild. She had not been expecting that, she had been expecting all fishmen, the King especially, to be kind of like Arlong in their hatred for humans. Guess Jinbe had a point when he said that Arlong was a 'bad apple'.  
It was Genzo that stepped forward to address the fishman on the other end of the snail, "We will accept your kings generous aid, however, you should warn your people not to take anything some of our villagers say too harshly, it has been a difficult few years. It is good, though, to know that not all fishmen are like Arlong here."

"Do not worry about our workers taking offense, our king will have informed them of Arlong's harsh rule. My friend Marco here will be taking Arlong and his men off your hands before the workers arrive, so you will not have to worry about guarding them or them possibly escaping before our people get there... Are the Strawhat Pirates there?" The suddenness of the question caught the mentioned Strawhats off guard for a moment before Zoro, as the unspoken first mate, stepped up to reply since his captain was off who knows where with his brother.

"Our captains not here right now, he's off catching up with his brother... I'm the first mate." Zoro said.

"Ah, I wanted to thank your captain and the rest of you for taking care of Arlong for us. I understand he hurt your navigator badly, and I especially wanted to apologize to her." At that, the crew glanced at Marco, all of them with their eyebrows raised. It was kinda cool really, brand new crew and they were already acting in unison with each other. Marco just shrugged. He had already explained to Jinbe that Arlong had already been taken care of when he and Ace arrived, as well as why these rookies had gotten involved having heard the whole story earlier on in the party.

Nami stepped up when she was mentioned, "It's alright, I mean, I probably never would have met Luffy if I hadn't been off island working, so... it worked out in the end."

Everyone heard the sigh of relief Jinbe let out at her words. Seems he had been rather worried about her attitude in particular towards what happened to her island. Makes sense, really, considering she was probably hurt the worse out of everybody on the island.

When the conversation was over, and the Strawhats had agreed to pass Jinbe's gratitude onto their captain, even though they knew what he would say, the party resumed full force after Marco and Zoro double checked the ropes to make sure that the fishmen's straining earlier hadn't damaged or loosened them. As easy as it would be, none of Strawhats were in the mood to fight them again, and Marco just wasn't in the mood period.

It didn't take them long to knock Arlong and a few of the other more vocal fishmen out again, they just would not stop going on about fishman superiority! Honestly, what part of being tied up by their own captives made them feel superior at that moment? Marco didn't think he would ever know.

After that was done, he decided to go find and check up on Luffy and Ace, what he saw when he found them made him smile. Honestly, you would have had to be deaf and blind and you still could have been able to tell how much these two loved and cared about each other. Just looking at the protective way Ace was holding his brother... he decided to just leave them be. If they wanted food, they knew where the party was. The next couple of hours, he watched the different members of the Strawhat crew head that direction only to come back a few minutes later smiling

The next morning, when he and the Strawhats realized that neither of their companions had joined the party last night, they all went up to check on them. After all, it was unusual for either of them to pass up the chance of getting food, and there was certainly food at the party that was still ongoing.  
Nobody expected the sight that greeted them when they walked up to the cliff. Marco found himself wishing for a camera at that moment. This was just too cute, and he never thought he would be considering anything to do with Ace to be cute. This was a side of Ace that he'd never seen before. Sure, he'd seen how Ace could be if one of their family was hurt, Ace could be terrifying in those situations. But that was a commander watching out for his men, sure he considered them family too, but...

But this, this was a big brother protecting his baby brother. Ace and Luffy were both asleep, Luffy with his head resting on Ace's chest, Ace with his arms around Luffy protectively. Luffy had his own arms loosely wrapped around his brother in turn, but that was almost more like how a little kid would cuddle with his teddy bear or something.

As one, each of the spectators looked at each other, each reading the question on each other's faces, 'should we wake them up?' They all glanced at the brothers again, nah. Let them sleep. Sanji was already planning to set some food aside just for the two brothers for later. Nami was wondering if she shouldn't go grab her camera, she thought there should be one in the house somewhere, if not Genzo might have one... one more glance and she decided against it. This was a private moment, one that the great Fire-Fist Ace probably wouldn't appreciate laying around for anybody to potentially see.

As one, everyone turned around and went back to the party. Marco could discuss plans for getting the Arlong Pirates back to Jinbe later... for now he had to figure out if it would be possible to go to another island nearby and buy something they could use to tow the prisoners behind them on...


	5. Party

_As one, everyone turned around and went back to the party. Marco could discuss plans for getting the Arlong Pirates back to Jinbe later... for now he had to figure out if it would be possible to go to another island nearby and buy something they could use to tow the prisoners behind them on..._

It was a few more hours before the brothers woke up. Or rather, it was a few more hours before Luffy woke up. Ace had woken up not long after Marco and the Strawhats came to check on them. He didn't feel like getting up anytime soon though. He was enjoying being with his brother. Even if that included being a pillow.

He didn't really mind being a pillow right now though. He knew how tired his brother could be after a fight, it was a proven fact that the more Luffy fought, or the harder the fight, the longer he slept and the more he ate when he finally woke up. He kinda felt sorry for the Strawhat cook, having a blackhole like Luffy for a captain. He supposed the cook should just be grateful for not having to cook the after-battle feast this time, the villagers seemed to have that covered.

He was so deep in thought about how they were going to transport their new prisoners that he didn't even notice Luffy woke up until he spoke. "Are you and Marco leaving right away? Or will you stay for a few days?" Luffy mumbled, he was barely awake, only enough to be understandable. Ace suspected that he only understood because he had lived with Luffy for so long.

Ace hummed as he thought about it. They did have prisoners to deal with now, but at the same time they had plenty of people around to keep an eye on them and they did still have to figure out how to transport them. The boat they brought was big enough, sure, but they also didn't really feel like sharing close quarters with a bunch of fishmen. They didn't have anything against the race, how could they with Namur as their brother, but these particular fishmen smelled like they had been rolling in seaweed.

Maybe they should have brought a bigger boat like he suggested in the first place...

"I don't know. We still need to figure out how we are going to transport them. They kinda smell, I don't feel like sailing with them in close quarters for the few weeks it will take to get them delivered." Luffy burst out laughing at that. He was starting to wake up more. "Why, don't you want your big brother around?"

Luffy pouted up at him. "That's not it... you have your own adventures now." His pout turned into an annoyed scowl. "And I don't really want Arlong anywhere near my navigator." Ace ahh'd in understanding. That made sense, it sounds like Arlong had really hurt Nami, and him being here any longer than he needed to be wouldn't help her move on with her life any faster.

"Well, I don't know, I need to talk to Marco about our plans. For now, why don't we go find food? Your crew is probably wondering where you are, Marco too probably..." He trailed off and smiled as both of their stomachs loudly agreed with his suggestion to find food. Luffy giggled and got up, letting Ace up after him. Together the two of them set off towards the village, both of them being surprised when they arrived by Sanji calling them both towards a table covered in food.

He smiled as they came closer, "Dig in, you two." He turned to Ace then, "I figured your appetite would be just as big or bigger than Luffy's, but if this isn't enough for the two of you there's plenty more around the village. Marco went off the island saying something about a bigger boat. Said he would be back later, the villagers are taking it in turns to guard the fishmen... well, those who are sober enough to know what they are doing are anyway..."

Ace grinned as he sat down. There was one less thing he had to worry about as far as his brother's crew was concerned. If his cook, as the newest crew member of only a few days, already knew how much Luffy ate and planned accordingly, then he would be well taken care of as far as food went. He noticed a few villagers stop their partying to stare as the two brothers started eating, clearly they had not expected the two to be eating this much or this fast. Their faces only got more comical when they noticed the two brothers stealing food from each other as they ate, or otherwise eating with the barest of table manners. Only the Strawhats were unsurprised by this, having been sailing with Luffy.

None of them looked very surprised, only slightly jealous, when they saw Ace looking at the fishmen in thought while stopping Luffy from stealing the meat he was reaching for at the same time. He hadn't even had to think about it or look to see Luffy coming. The Strawhats started thinking that maybe they could ask Ace for advice on how they could better protect their food... oh, who were they kidding. Ace's skill came from years of experience.

"Remember the first time Makino came up to the hideout? And cooked for all the bandits?" Luffy asked Ace. Ace grinned while the Strawhats nearby froze and slowly turned towards the brothers.

Bandits? What?

Ace noticed them looking. "Oh, yeah. We were raised by mountain bandits."

"Hey, Ace, why did they all just go to sleep? Is it nap time?" Luffy innocently asked after he noticed his crew had passed out, except for Zoro.

Ace chuckled. Still as clueless as ever. "Don't worry about it Lu, my crew did the same thing when I mentioned us being raised by bandits. They'll be up soon enough, talking about how much it explains. And yes, I think that time Makino came and cooked for everyone was the first time I saw manners. I had to ask later what was going on, remember that?"

"Oh, yeah! You had to wait until Grandpa was done with us and gone before it was safe though..." The two shuddered while looking around to make sure Garp wasn't going to show up out of nowhere and attack them.

Zoro raised an eyebrow and made a mental note to find out who this 'Grandpa' was so the crew could avoid whatever area he was rumored to be in. He couldn't have some random old man coming in and beating up his captain, or worse, after all. Even if the old man was the captain's family.

Anyone who could terrify both his fearless captain AND a Whitebeard commander sounded like someone the rest of the crew did NOT need to meet.

Both brothers ate quietly after that, and the rest of the crew slowly woke up, and sure enough, started muttering about how much was now explained. Ace laughed at how predictable it was.

After eating, Luffy and Ace joined the rest of the party. It was... chaos. Wherever the brothers went, although the Strawhats noticed that Ace seemed to be playing preemptive damage control most of the time. Either stopping Luffy from doing something super crazy, or apologizing ahead of time, which left the Strawhats scratching their heads wondering how he knew what was about to happen. Did he seriously know Luffy THAT well to be able to apologize at least a minute before something happened? Apparently so, they thought as they watched Ace apologize for Luffy destroying some tables, a minute before Luffy dive-bombed a table and destroyed it and the ones surrounding it.

"Wow, those two are pretty in tune with each other." Marco commented as he returned to see Ace and Luffy dancing with each other, although it kind of looked more like a fight with invisible opponents to those who looked hard enough. Marco noticed though, that in their fight/dance, they left a hole open in their 'defenses', almost like there should be a third person with them...

Nami jumped when she heard Marco's voice, she hadn't noticed him come back. "When did you get back?" She demanded, clutching her chest while her heart raced. He really scared her.

"Oh, sorry, I just got back. I managed to get something to haul Arlong's men behind our boat with... we really should have brought a bigger one to begin with... oh well. I need to talk to Ace about when we leave, but at the same time..." He trailed off watching Ace and Luffy. He didn't really want to separate the brothers after not seeing each other for three years, but at the same time they had to get the fishmen to Jimbei. Before they tried to escape. Speaking of which...

Marco went to go check on the ropes when he saw some of the fishmen squirming, no doubt trying to loosen the ropes enough so they could get free. So, Marco tied them tighter than before, making it harder to move an inch, let alone how much leeway they had before.

He then went back towards where he last saw the brothers, only to see Ace sitting alone. Before he could ask where Luffy was, Ace told him, "he had to go take care of something with his crew. I think it has to do with that Genzo guy, I guess he's a protective father-figure to Nami?" He shrugged. He didn't really get that. He grew up without a father figure, and he hated his birth-dad, so... Besides, in his view, if you were old enough to sail around and steal from pirates, you were old enough to set sail with one and didn't need to be protected.

"So, about our schedule... I know we have prisoners and all now... but I don't suppose a visit to Dawn Island is out of the question?" He asked hopefully. Now that Luffy put the idea in his head the night before, he really wanted to see Makino again. He might even take the trip to see Dadan. Assuming, of course, that they could make the detour.

Marco looked at him thoughtfully. He wasn't stupid, he saw the looks the Blue raised crew members gave their Grand Line raised siblings whenever they happened to stop at that particular siblings home island. And while it was true that most of the crew didn't really have family to return to, or have good memories making them want to go back... some of them had something they left behind that they wouldn't mind seeing again. Ace was one of those crew members. He looked particularly down when they went into the smaller bars, or were on an island with a mountain covered in forest.

Of course, knowing he was raised by mountain bandits in the forests of his home island... that kind of made sense that he would miss that kind of... atmosphere. He grew up with the forest as his playground, so sometimes ship life could be a little constricting. Not that Ace would ever admit that of course...

"We should probably leave tomorrow... that will give us time to load up supplies, get the fishmen settled onto their... raft... boat... thing, give you more time with your brother, and time for you to show me the maps of this sea so I know exactly how far away Dawn Island is so I can decide if its too risky or not with the prisoners." Marco said decisively. He was not expecting...

"Dawn is only a couple of days Northeast of here."

...that. How did he know that off the top of his head?

"What? You think I don't know my home sea? I mean, I know its been a few years since I was here and all..." Ace said when he noticed the strange look Marco was giving him.

Then again, the Moby's navigator's always did say Ace was a pretty decent navigator himself. All he was missing were the instincts that came with experience. In fact, they would have loved to give him that experience, but... Ace had not really earned their trust to not randomly turn the ship around if he decided he wanted meat from a specific island or something. (He was legendary for doing that with his division when they were sent out on missions. It was still unclear whether those incidents happened because he was the commander and just ordered them to change direction... or if the idiots let him take the helm for a while and didn't bother to supervise.)

"Hmm, I think we can spare the extra few days. Provided of course, that we keep an extra close eye on the fishmen." Marco said. And immediately regretted it when he was suddenly swallowed in the arms of a happy fire-man screaming thank-you's in his ear. And of course when Luffy came back to find his brother... that's what he saw.

Ace screaming thank-you's into his crew mates ears while hugging and swinging him around like a pendulum. So, naturally, Luffy declared a group hug and joined his brother in squeezing the poor Phoenix to death.

During the rest of that day, the Strawhats and some of the villagers took time away from the party to help Ace and Marco load supplies, prisoners, and get Marco better acquainted with maps of that ocean. Since he'd been on the Grand Line for so long, he was not used to normal navigation methods. He also explained to Nami about navigating the Grand Line and gave her their spare log pose for when they arrived there. Nami was thrilled. She didn't know about the different navigating on the Grand Line, it would have been disastrous if they had gone there not knowing, and as navigator it was her job to know this stuff.

The next day, Luffy was very sad to see his brother go. Ace had already told him that they were making a detour to Dawn, and asked if Luffy had a message for them, he just asked him to tell them hi and that he'd see them again someday. He also handed Ace a flag and asked him to raise it either at Dadan's or just have Makino hang it somewhere. Right before they left, Luffy pulled Marco aside and asked him to give a message for Whitebeard. When they returned, both of them refused to say what they were talking about. Marco was also holding something, but nobody could get a good look at it before he hid it in his cabin on the boat.

Both Luffy and Ace promised to meet up somewhere when Luffy reached the New World. They didn't know where, but they would figure it out. Most probably it would involve Ace having to follow the trail of destruction until he finally caught up with them. What Ace didn't know was that Marco was already making plans for that... he just had to clear it with his father first.

Ace and Marco finally set sail towards Dawn Island to many good-bye's from the villagers and Strawhats.

"So, did you enjoy seeing your brother again?"

"Yeah, it was great. He looks like he gathered some reliable people too... he'll go pretty far." Ace answered with a grin.


	6. Dawn Island

_Ace and Marco finally set sail towards Dawn Island to many good-bye's from the villagers and Strawhats._

_"So, did you enjoy seeing your brother again?"_

_"Yeah, it was great. He looks like he gathered some reliable people too... he'll go pretty far." Ace answered with a grin._

Two days later Marco and Ace were in sight of Dawn Island, with the only exciting thing happening during that time period being Arlong running off his mouth and the Lord of the Coast showing up and trying to eat them all. Which, naturally, didn't work.

"Huh, I'm kind of surprised Luffy let the Lord live when he set sail, I would have expected him to eat it instead of just knocking it out." Ace muttered as they left the Lord unconscious in the water behind them.

"What do you mean?" Marco was curious. Sounded like there was a story behind that. Besides Luffy's blackhole stomach.

Ace glanced over at him, "...Let's just say that Luffy and the Lord of the Coast have a... bit of a history... I honestly couldn't tell you the whole story, I wasn't there and Luffy doesn't really like to talk about it, we only got him to mention it once. If you want the full story you'll have to ask either Shanks or Benn. They could tell you more since they were there. All I know is that if Shanks wasn't there..."

Now Marco was really curious. From the time frame he had, Shanks spent about a year in the East Blue before coming back to the Grand Line 10 years ago minus one arm and his hat and not telling how he lost them. That kid, Luffy, was wearing a hat that looked suspiciously like Shanks old hat, and now Ace was telling him that Luffy had a history with a sea king and Shanks was somehow involved, and from the sounds of it, if Shanks hadn't been involved, Luffy would no longer be here today. Marco was starting to get the feeling he had just found where Shanks missing arm went.

Their 'fight' with the Sea King behind them had drawn some attention on the docks, and Marco was a little surprised to be greeted by the mayor with nothing except a warning against causing trouble and forcing them to call Garp. Was that seriously all it took to keep pirates and whatnot away from this place? Just mentioning Garp the Hero? And why did Ace tense up like that at the mention of that old man?

"Ace?" Marco asked, and Ace jumped. Which of course made the mayor look again at who was in front of him, and practically go nuts when he realized that this was the Ace that used to run around with his Luffy.

"Ace my boy! It's good to see you! You're in luck, you just missed your grandfather, in fact if you had come a day earlier you would have run into him. And I know he says family first and all, but... with that Fist of Love of his, and your bounty... Although I still find it disgraceful on our village to have produced two criminals..." The last part was muttered so that the pirates barely heard it.

Nobody on the dock missed the obvious relief in Ace at the news that his grandfather had just left the day before, meaning he wasn't coming back anytime soon. Marco was the only one there who didn't know why he was so relieved though. Marco was going to ask, but Ace beat him out by asking the villagers if any of them could keep an eye on their prisoners for a bit while they visited with some people.

"Prisoners?" Woop Slap asked. Ace just gestured behind him at the raft and said that they were in the area on some business and decided to stop by.

The Mayor raised an eyebrow but decided not to question a pirates business. That just wasn't healthy after all, depending on who the pirate was. He agreed to set some men up to watch the prisoners and told him that Dadan was in town earlier, but had already left back up the mountain. Ace just grinned and figured that now he had an excuse to drag Marco up there.

What he didn't know was that Marco had been planning on dragging him up there, at least until Ace got the hint and started leading the way on his own. They made there way towards Party's Bar, and along the way Ace told Marco stories Luffy told him from his time living here in the village before moving up the mountain. He mentioned their grandfather, who was rarely here, a few times, and each time was accompanied by obvious fear.

They reached Party's Bar just as Makino was coming out, she saw Ace and he was in a hug faster then he could blink. He laughed and hugged her back before she noticed Marco behind him.

"Oh, who's this, Ace? Someone from your crew?" She asked, letting go of him.

Marco smiled and introduced himself before Ace could. "Names Marco, I'm the first division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates." He said, bowing respectfully.

"Nice to meet you, Whitebeard?" She asked Ace. Last she heard, Ace was a captain moving through the Grand Line pretty quickly.

He nodded. "Yup, been with the Whitebeard's for a little under two years now? I'm also the Second Division Commander." He said proudly.

Her eyes lit up. It was obvious that Ace was happy, she caught what Ace didn't say. She also knew some of the Whitebeard's reputation from Garp. As much as the man didn't like pirates, even he had to respect Whitebeard for the way he treated his crew like family. She looked over at Marco and he was surprised to see the silent 'thank you' in her eyes.

Out loud, she said, "Are you going up to see Dadan? You just missed her, I'm afraid."

"I didn't think anything could get Dadan off that mountain... The Terminal Fire doesn't count, that was extreme circumstances." Ace said.

"Oh, yes. She's been visiting regularly since a couple years ago when one of the other families decided to make trouble. She says its to send a message to the others that this bar is off limits, but... personally I think she just wants another woman to talk to, I can't exactly make the hike up the mountain everyday you know."

Ace just nodded, he was glad that Dadan was doing something to protect the bar, he had been worried when Luffy told him about the attack that some of the other bandit families might decide to be stupid too now that Luffy wasn't around to retaliate anymore. But, he thought, there is a reason why Dadan's family was one of the more well-known families on the mountain.

And it wasn't just because they were raising the Demon Brats.

"I think we'll head up that way now, and then stop back in here when we come back down. We can't stay too long, we're in the East on business... so..."

"Oh, that's fine. I'll have some food ready for when you get back down, this will give me time to get enough ready. Guess it's a good thing the bandits brought me a fresh crocodile, then, huh?" She asked with a teasing glint in her eye. Ace's face lit up. He loved crocodile!

"See you in a bit, Makino!" Ace called as he led Marco towards the forest nearby, and to the trail leading up the mountain. As they walked, Ace told Marco various stories of when he was growing up here, pointing out locations along the trail where they had some of their more... memorable, hunts. He even briefly mentioned how him and Luffy met, although he left out the parts where he tried to kill Luffy basically every chance he got until the incident with Porchemy. That was something he was not proud of...

Marco listened, amazed, as he listened to Ace talk about his life before setting sail. This was honestly the most ANYBODY had ever learned about Ace in the two years he had been on the Moby. He just never talked about his past much. From the message Luffy gave him for Pops and from the look in Makino's eyes earlier though... it didn't sound like Ace had the best childhood. He also noticed that none of Ace's stories involved his life before meeting Luffy.

He remembered how... protective Luffy had been after Ace mentioned that he joined the Whitebeards, at least until the point where the two brothers came back the next morning from their talk by the cliff. He also noticed that Ace rarely talked about anything in his past that didn't start with his baby brother. Really, the fact that he was a very proud older brother was all the crew really knew about his life before joining them. And the fact that he was raised by mountain bandits, but they only learned that when somebody questioned Ace's eating habits and he used that as an excuse.

Of course, Marco and the commanders also knew about his father, but... that was only because Ace had told Whitebeard before joining to see his reaction, sort of as a test. Ace had told Marco later that if Whitebeard had actually cared about that, he would not have agreed to join. But since Pops didn't care... Ace joined and now Ace didn't really seem to care anymore either. And really, why should he? He had a family now, even if it did occasionally come up.

At some point in one of the stories, they reached a fork in the trail. Ace stopped and looked down one of the trails looking thoughtful and, pained? He glanced over at Marco for a moment before seeming to come to a decision. "We're making a detour, there's somewhere I want to visit."

Just like that, he was gone up the trail, Marco scrambling to keep up. Briefly, Marco wondered what had gotten into the other commander, but figured it best to save his breath for hiking the 'trail', no wonder Ace was in such good shape, not to mention good at climbing things and getting around various obstacles. This could hardly be called a trail! He was out of breath, and he thought he was in pretty good shape! Ace must have heard him start to breathe hard, because he actually slowed down a little and had the nerve to look amused when he glanced back at him. Marco just glared back.

When they finally arrived at, wherever Ace was taking him, Marco was surprised to see they were at the base of a very large tree. Looking up, he could see the tree-house at the top. The tree was massive, he figured that if he were to be in the little crow's nest he could barely see at the very top, he would see out over the whole island.

"What is this place?"

"It was our home, at least until the fire... me and Luffy built it, along with a... friend of ours. Man, I haven't been here in years. Me and Luffy have kind of... avoided the place since..." He trailed off before he climbed the ladder to the tree-house, going through it quickly before he continued up to the crows nest. Curious, Marco followed, only to be amazed at what he saw.

At the top of the crows nest, was a flag, one that proudly proclaimed 'ASL', all in different colors, Ace looked at it for a moment before reaching into the pocket where he stored Luffy's flag and hung it up underneath, then he pulled his old Spade Pirates flag out from... somewhere... and hung it below that, but not before hanging the Whitebeard flag alongside it. Where did all these flags come from?

"I thought Luffy gave you that to give to Makino or this Dadan person?" Marco asked with a frown.

"He gave me more than one. This was us," Ace said, pointing to the 'ASL' flag. "Ace," pointing to the A, "Sabo," The S, "And Luffy." He finished, pointing to the L. "Me and my brothers."

For a brief moment, he wondered when Luffy gave Ace another flag, he was watching the whole time and he only saw the one being handed over. Then he realized that Sabo must be the name of the friend they built this place with, but Ace just referred to this Sabo guy as another one of his brothers. 

"What..."

"He died. Years ago. Don't want to talk about it." Ace turned away from the flags to look out the side of the nest, and Marco had to admit to being impressed with the view.

They could see the whole island from here. While they stood there, Ace pointed out Foosha village, then he gestured in the direction of what he called 'Snob-land'. Although, if Marco remembered correctly, Dawn Island was known for being home to the Goa Kingdom, which was full of nobles. Ace also mentioned something called Grey Terminal in that direction. When asked what that was, Ace just said it was the nobles trash heap and left it at that.

Marco briefly wondered why Ace was telling him all this stuff all of a sudden. He had officially learned more in an hour about Ace then the entire crew had learned in two years. Everything Ace ever said about Luffy didn't count. Everyone on the ship could tell you anything you want to know about Luffy off the top of their heads. And none of them had ever met the kid yet.

Ace? They lived with the guy for two years and couldn't tell you much beyond that he grew up with mountain bandits, set sail when he was 17, liked to joke around, and was a good commander, as well as as a strong fighter. Oh, and he liked food, a lot of food. Oh, and that he had trust issues. But that was evident by the way he kept trying to kill Pops when he first came on board.

Sure, he was their brother, but he was also very private. Unless, of course, you were unlucky enough to get him talking about his brother.

One time, they sent Ace to take care of a marine ship, and instead of blowing it up like he normally did, he captured all of the Marines just to talk about his 'adorable baby brother'. Rumor had it, after five minutes with the Marine's psychologists, it was immediately recommended that those men be relieved of service. It was deemed that they no longer had the mental capacity to be good soldiers. All they would talk about with this kid named Luffy and rubber.

Vice-Admiral Garp for some reason only made it worse, at least as soon as they heard the 'Monkey D.' part of his name.

Ace got a nice-sized bounty raise out of it... the only reason anybody back at HQ knew it was Ace was because some lucky individual managed to get a message through before Ace captured him.

The rest of the crew pitied the Marines, which was something unheard of. The Whitebeard Pirates, pitying Marines!

He glanced over at Ace to see him staring out at the ocean before shaking himself and heading back to the ladder, glancing up at the flags as he went.

~VtH~

Ace still didn't know why he took Marco there. The plan had originally been to take Marco to Dadan's, tell her that he had something to go do real quick, and then go to the tree-house. At the same time, he also knew that the rest of the crew had been trying to figure him out for years. That was part of why he was telling Marco this stuff now.

He knew that as soon as they got back to the ship, some of what Marco was told and had seen would be all over the place within hours, if not minutes. Hopefully, it would get some of the more curious, Thatch, off his case on his past. At least, for now anyway. He was still not ready for them to know... everything else. He figured stories of various hunts and playing in the forest or the Terminal would have to do for now.

But the plan had not been for him to find out about Sabo too. As soon as Thatch heard about it...

While they walked down the trail towards Dadan's, he noticed Marco glance over, then his eyes suddenly widened a bit before he reached out and lightly traced the crossed out 'S' on his tattoo. His hand snapped back and he continued walking like nothing happened. Ace smiled slightly. At least he wouldn't have to deal with the pity crap with Marco. Thatch might end up being a different story...

Guy may be a pirate on the strongest crew around, but when he heard a good sob story...

Like that one time Ace told him about (completely made up) rumors about some high-ish ranking marine (Ace forgot the guys name and rank, he just knows he was slightly high up the ladder) losing his wife to a bandit attack on the guys home island. Thatch didn't even bother trying to confirm anything about this guy, he just got permission to go on a trip, dragged Ace to a boat, and found out what part of the sea the poor Marine was stationed in and what ship. By the time Thatch was done, that man's entire crew was comatose, and when they came out of it, they were another ship-load of Marines who were declared mentally unfit for duty.

The rest of the Whitebeard crew steered clear of Ace for a while after that, although there was talk going around of trading in their weapons for, whatever it was they might want to trade them in for depending on what they did on the ship, and just letting Ace at them instead. Or just telling Thatch a made-up sob story about some random Marine on the other ship.

On the bright side, that would have solved their Marine issue once and for all... Either the captains would have been too scared to come near them for fear of being declared unfit, or there would have been no Marines left.

Funnily enough, both Ace and Thatch got a pretty big bounty raise out of that one...

The closer they got to Dadan's, the more nervous Ace got. He knew it was stupid, this was Dadan after all! But he was seeing the only mother figure (not that she was really that much of a mother) he ever knew for the first time in years, and he was introducing her to his crew-mate. Considering the fact that bandits and pirates are notorious for not getting along... although this is also the same bandit who's drinking buddies with a Vice-Admiral, also the same bandit that said Vice-Admiral dumped a couple of kids on and expected her to make Marines out of them.

Why Gramps thought that would ever work...

Ace pushed away thoughts of those days, he had decided a long time ago that he didn't care about any of that. He had Luffy, eventually, and that was enough.

He paused when they reached the clearing that housed the bandits hut, grinning fondly at the sight of his and Luffy's 'country', which it looked like the bandits were already starting to take over, it looked like they were working out how to attach the building to their own hut, but for now it looked like extra storage.

Marco whistled, "You grew up here? This place is..."

"Finish that sentence and I don't care that your with Ace." A low voice growled from behind them, making Marco jump slightly (which he would viciously deny later on) while Ace just turned around lazily, like he was used to this woman sneaking up on him.

"Kinda homey, I was going to say homey." Marco said quickly, not wanting to deal with an angry woman, they were scary. That, and at the moment she kinda reminded him of the nurses when someone on the crew made them angry (coughAcecough).

Ace snorted, yeah, that was totally what Marco was going to say.

"Just admit it Dadan, this place is a dump, always has been, always will be." He said casually, as if Dadan didn't look ready to murder him then and there.

Instead, she asked, "It's been a while since you brought a friend home." The fact that the last friend had been Sabo went unspoken.

Ace just shook his head and suddenly pulled a large bottle of some of the South Blue's finest sake out of nowhere. He looked at Marco, "Don't ask." As he handed the bottle to Dadan, telling her to try and make it last longer than five minutes.

"And this is Marco by the way, First Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates, and a fellow crewmate." Ace said as they started walking towards the hut.

"So you did join another crew after all? Huh..." She scanned Marco for a second before taking another look at Ace before nodding to herself as if she liked whatever it was she saw. She turned to Marco and nodded in gratitude, Ace pretended not to notice.

Honestly, why were they acting like this when they find out he joined Whitebeard's family and started calling him father? Oh. He found somebody and willingly called him father... That explains so much of their behavior now.

Walking in, Ace was greeted by the other bandits, Ace was surprised to see the wall covered in his wanted posters. When he looked at them questioningly, Dadan explained that Luffy put them up and they just hadn't taken them down yet.

Ace barely held in a snort. Yeah, right. Luffy wouldn't have put them up there if the bandits didn't let him in the first place. Forgetting the fact that none of the bandits had ever been able to say no to Luffy, at least, not since the Terminal Fire, they would have still made him put them somewhere else if they didn't want them up there. Especially with how often Garp stopped by to visit.

Just like he knew that in a few days, Luffy's first wanted poster would be proudly displayed beside his. He also noticed a few newspapers stuffed in a corner, grabbing one, he noticed that they all held his more noteworthy adventures that the Marines decided to barge in on.

He shook his head fondly. Dadan would never change. They may never have really gotten along, but... even he had to admit she was always there when him and Luffy needed it the most. Over the years, as he became less... angry... he had grown somewhat fond of Dadan and her ways of showing them she cared.

Marco shook his head at the newspapers before clearing his throat and reminding Ace that they couldn't stay long. Ace just frowned. He knew that Pops said to take their time, but that was before they actually had the fishmen in their custody. Looking at Dadan, even she looked disappointed that Ace couldn't stay longer, even though Ace knew she would act happy that he was leaving again when he finally did.

They stayed for a couple hours, just talking, Dadan elaborated on what Luffy told Ace about the attack on the bar, along with what her men did to the other bandits when Luffy was done with them. They had decided that they weren't going to make Luffy do any of that, they knew that he would probably kill a few people as a pirate, most likely Marines or something, but that would be in the middle of a battle, not just straight up and killing somebody.

Ace didn't really know where this sentiment had come from all of a sudden, after all, when Luffy was first brought to the bandits hut he hadn't even been there for an hour before Dadan told him that they were going to teach him to murder. Of course, they never actually did, he was always out chasing Ace, hunting with him and Sabo, training, or beating people up in the Terminal. Now that Ace thought about it, all the skills him and Luffy had when it came to stealing were basically self-taught... despite the fact that Dadan had promised to make him a 'proper bandit' once-upon-a-time.

Ace could tell Marco really didn't want to, but eventually, he had to tell Ace it was time to start heading back to the Grand Line, which meant they had to go. Luckily, Makino had promised food before they left, so, that was something.

Before they left, and yes, Ace saw the tears she was trying to pass off as dust, and he knew Marco did too, Ace handed her a flag. Told her Luffy wanted her to hang it up.

When she looked at it and saw the new mark of the Strawhat Pirates, she burst into new tears all over again. Ace just smirked and walked away, throwing a 'see ya later' over his shoulder as he went.

"So, that's why you don't do really emotional or like showing emotion much." Marco observed, thinking back to when Dadan was trying to pretend she wasn't crying, and that she didn't care.

Ace laughed, "Yeah, one time she tied me to a tree for almost a week because... something happened and I wanted to go down and beat everybody who made it happen. Normally she would have let me, but... The people I wanted to go beat up happened to be the Celestial Dragons. You know, the World Nobles."

Marco started gaping at him like a fish. If he had been drinking something, it would have been spit out all over his friend. Ace looked back at him when he heard a choking sound and laughed so hard he ended up on his knees in the middle of the mountain path. "The look on your face!" He yelled, still laughing.

Hearing that, Marco relaxed, "You were joking then, good." He sighed in relief.

Ace stopped laughing, got up, and kept walking like nothing happened. "Oh, no. I was completely serious. The Celestial Dragons came in, killed my best friend and brother, and left me to raise Luffy on my own. The worst part about it was that the Terminal fire happened about a week before that, and both Luffy and I almost lost each other in THAT. And, on top of that, the Terminal Fire was started in the first place by the nobles in an effort to impress the Dragons. So, now you know why I've always hated those Nobles so much." Ace said, without looking back.

Marco could only stare in disbelief. That did explain why he hated them so much. Also why he said once that he used to be afraid of fire. "How old were you?" He asked softly. He was also caught on the 'raise Luffy' part.

"I was ten. Lu was seven. Sabo was always the nicer older brother, I just seemed to always be angry with everything Luffy did... until the bear anyway."

"The bear?"

Ace hummed in answer but didn't say anything else. It seemed to Marco that Ace had shared all of his past that he was willing to.

~VtH~

Three hours later, they were back on their boat.

When they had gotten back to the bar, they found Makino waiting for them with the promised crocodile meat, which had Ace drooling over it, more than Ace normally drooled over food. Now that Marco thought about that, he couldn't recall them ever having crocodile on the ship in the two years Ace was with them, he'd have to talk to Thatch about adding it to their stores. If it was Ace's favorite, then... no harm in making a brother happy.

While they ate, Ace and Marco told Makino stories about some of their more... interesting battles, including the incident where Ace talked them down by telling them about Luffy, the bar was on the ground laughing at that. Sure, not all of them, if any really, knew Ace, but they knew Luffy. And Luffy had talked about a big brother named Ace a few times when he made his way down the mountain to visit Makino.

After eating, they had to go, they made their way back to their boat, checked on the prisoners, and now they were once again punching their way past the Sea King. Just in time for them to get a call on the Transponder Snail.

"Hey, Marco, are you two on your way home?"

"Yeah, Pops, we got the fishmen, met Luffy while we were at it, Ace got to visit home for a bit, and now we are coming home... why? Did something happen?"

Marco and Ace heard a sigh on the other end of the line, "It's Teach. He betrayed us and tried to kill Thatch. Get home."


End file.
